Giorgio Armani, legendary Italian fashion designer, dies at 91

Giorgio Armani, the famous Italian fashion designer, died at age 91, announced his company on Thursday.

“With infinite pain, the Armani group announces the death of its creator, founder and tireless driving force: Giorgio Armani,” the company said in a statement on social networks. “Il Signor Armani, as he was always called and admiringly for his employees and collaborators, died peacefully, surrounded by his loved ones. In tanning until the end, he worked until his last days, dedicating himself to the company, collections and the many ongoing and future projects.”

The designer’s independence, “of thought and action”, was his distinctive seal, added Armani Group.

A funeral chamber will be open to the public from Saturday, September 6 until Sunday, September 7, at Armani Theater in Milan, the company said. Then a private funeral will be carried out.

Although the company did not provide more details about Armani’s death, the designer was absent from three Armani fashion parades during the summer due to a disease.

Armani founded the luxury fashion house that was named in 1975 in Milan, Italy, with his partner Sergio Galeotti. At the end of this month, the 50th anniversary celebrations are expected to take place during Milan Fashion Week.

At the time of his death, Armani remained the CEO and the only shareholder of his company, according to The Financial Times, which published What would be the final interview with the designer on August 29?

“My greatest weakness is that I have control of everything,” Armani told the publication, and added that his greatest force is his, “ability to believe in my ideas and determination, sometimes stubbornness, to carry them through.”

After working as a buyer and designer of male clothing, Armani, who was born on the outskirts of Milan, used $ 10,000 to start his own fashionable home, according to Financial Times.

In the following years, their designs not only adorned the tracks but also the Hollywood celebrities, who wore their clothes in red carpets and in films that include “American Gigolo”, “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Goodfellas”.

When describing his legacy, Armani said he went to build not only a fashionable house but also a lifestyle.

“My initial goal was to dress people, but from there I naturally moved to other areas, because I wanted to offer those who enter Armani’s world a unique experience,” he told The Financial Times. “In fact, I have created a lifestyle that would define as a world of natural sophistication, in which nothing is exaggerated, but everything finds a balance that, although whispered, is rich in personality.”

Given his role to lead the Armani group until his death, who will happen to Armani is not clear immediately.

He told the Financial Times that he wanted his succession to be a “gradual transition.”

“My succession plans consist of a gradual transition of the responsibilities that I have always handled to the closest to me, as Leo Dell’orco [head of menswear for Armani]The members of my family and the entire work team, “he said.” I would like the succession to be organic and not a moment of rupture. “

Looking back in his life and everything he had achieved, Armani said he just wanted to have spent more time enjoying life with the people he loved.

“I don’t know if I would use the word addicted to work, but hard work is certainly essential for success,” he told The Financial Times. “My only repentance in life was to spend too many hours working and there is not enough time with friends and family.”

Armani had a long data relationship with Galeotti, a fashionable architect and designer. Galeotti died of AIDS complications in 1985.